All are invited to receive the grace of God.
All means all, or it means nothing. Blacks and whites; gays and lesbians; Native Americans and immigrants; liberals and fundamentalists and even aging bald white guys – ALL are invited to the table, or no one is.
As the church, our job is to open our doors as wide as God's heart and proclaim that there is room in the family of God for everyone. But it goes beyond making sure people are welcomed, they need to know they are wanted; and they are not just accepted, they are loved. For some people, when they find a place like that, it’s like finding water in the desert.
We often look at the early church in Acts as the blueprint for how church should be. But if we look closely, we see some conflict and tension. In fact, it looks more like a mirror of problems that we are all-too-familiar with in churches today.
Each day we are given the opportunity to bear witness to the power and love of God. We are given the opportunity to link arms and bear witness to the world that in this place we can pull together and invest in one another’s lives and lives yet unseen; that what matters in this life is more than winning for ourselves, but helping others win.
Here is the link to the video to the is shown during the sermon.
